dun matter now, do it?
You really don't want to get too close to the main characters in these fictional stories. NPCs tend to get burned.
Hi guys! I am Inotia King a youtuber, redditor and gamer who likes theorizing about the story. I actually cobbled together a list of some of my more important theories with respect to the game Genshin Impact and Star Rail that I have been basing all of my newer theories on. I'll be putting more of those up on Hive along with new stuff but if you're impatient I also archived all my theories here. I hope some of you guys are game theorists too. Let's try to figure out these great games together!
I had joked about it over on youtube. They brought in Truvia. They even talked about her in the v3.1 livestream like it'd be a big deal. Then in the story she just showed up once, had a lukewarm conversation with Phaethon and then the next time you see her she gets stabbed and left for dead lol
Anyway she and Serpico are rivals to Phaethon and my theory about that was that they'd be "Epaphus." (just a placeholder for what their role would be) In the myth, it was Epaphus who goaded Phaethon into asking his father to borrow the sun chariot which led to disaster. My theory had been that these rivals could never outshine Phaethon and so they resorted to underhanded tactics that eventually led to Phaethon's deaths in the first timeline. Without Phaethon, nothing could stop the Creator from rising and so Epaphus realized too late how important their hated rivals were to the world. Using their own power granted by Helios Academy they entered branched time first and saved Phaethon in this current timeline.
However, it's been revealed that this rival duo is actually Icarus who Phaethon had mentioned before when they were having visions of a future where they transformed into the full Ethereal version of Pyrois, possibly - but imo not likely to be - their Enchainer form. Icarus and Phaethon are now revealed as just their team names that were bestowed on them by the academy. This means my old belief that Phaethon was a name the siblings themselves chose as a result of the Fall of Eridu as a way to remind themselves to use their power carefully is no longer the case. Now it just seems Helios Academy had sun mythology on the brain and named their student pairs after famous characters in those stories. It becomes ironic then that they pushed both Icarus and Phaethon to be their star pupils when they had named both after people who reached too far for that sun and met with tragedy. It's clearly a narrative move by the devs now more than anything.
Side Note 1: That said, because of the Where the Miracle Began trailer, we know for a fact that the myths exist in the Zenless universe so it's amusing Helios didn't notice that. Why name your teams who you want to "seize the sun" after those who tried and failed to do so? Similarly, wouldn't Phaethon find it funny they were named after the guy who lost control over his power and scorched the Earth? You'd imagine they'd never want to be associated with that name ever again. I don't think the devs thought that one though while they were trying to be thematically clever.
Side Note 2: And therefore Icarus is in the same boat. Rather than Serpico or Truvia ever considering their fate and naming themselves Icarus for who he is, it's now just a narrative element by the devs. These two did in fact "fly too close to the sun" that was Phaethon and fell to their doom. Again, the irony is lost on those two as a result.
And it's actually this that makes me think that in spite of how Icarus has the backstory for my theory's Epaphus faction, these two aren't them. They're the red herring if any of you guys were also sold on the Epaphus idea or had a rival Proxy faction theory of your own.
Let's look back at that first conversation between Phaethon and Truvia. It looks like Truvia and Belle never got along. (And yes I checked. It's always Truvia and Belle no matter who your player Proxy is.) They were always in competition with each other and so that could have developed into its own kind of bitter rivalry which is where I think Icarus' story is actually going. While Belle eventually grew out of it, Icarus might not have and the more Phaethon rose to prominence, the more bitter Icarus became. Why is that? Why might it be so important for Icarus to be better than Phaethon?
As it turned out, both of them were just adopted orphans by Lead Scepter from TOPS. Any of you watch the original Yu-Gi-OH! Duel Monsters anime? Serpico and Truvia's backstory sounds just like Seto and Mokuba's backstory. In the anime, rich industrialist Gozaburo Kaiba was doing a PR stunt by donating to a local orphanage and Seto managed to get him and his brother adopted by him. After that though, instead of living in the lap of luxury, Gozaburo was shown to be a cruel taskmaster and demanded excellence out of the brothers. Over time, while Mokuba became a muted pawn between the two, Seto shouldered as much of the man's abuse as he could and ended up growing into a cold, unsmiling competitive brute who would even send an old man to the hospital in order to claim something that could potentially have been used against him in the future. What if that's also the situation with Serpico and Truvia? Maybe Serpico had once tried to shield Truvia from as much of Mosseint's abuse as he could until his "death" where Truvia became the successor and turned into the lukewarm person we see speaking to Phaethon. The fact that the man's company is called "High Ambitions" Corp is just as on the nose as calling the two Icarus.
So if they aren't Epaphus, who are they in this story? Well, my prediction for Season 3 was that there were two sides to the story. You have the main Void Hunters story with Roscaelifer that I said should be explored directly by Phaethon while working with Remielle. This is about uncovering the secrets of Lady Sunbringer. However, before this season got started we were shown a trailer about TOPS also making a move on it and the Season 2 Epilogue told us about how they were interested in the Void Hunter Weapons. What if the "high ambitions" of Mosseint at TOPS was to trigger the incident that "killed" Serpico? Maybe the real goal of pushing Serpico and Truvia was for them and not Phaethon to unleash the Etheric Other and simply become the true Enchainer for the Creator. However, thanks to Phaethon achieving it instead and losing control, TOPS pulled the plug on that scheme. Serpico was cast aside while Truvia was relegated to simply becoming a proxy heir for the company, to be used as a pawn in whatever new schemes they might hatch like the current one.
Serpico never lived that down so that's why he's become all Aventurine now instead of Childe. Season 3's B side then becomes headed by him but as a wild card. TOPS wants things under control and so they work behind the scenes which makes it more difficult to discover their actions. Serpico on the other hand doesn't have the patience for that but he does have the intel on what TOPS is planning. Therefore his actions so far which have caught the attention of the ESD and Phaethon might be how we get started on the B side. Or, perhaps it's because he is such a loose cannon that Mosseint's using it to his advantage.
Maybe his Bangboo virus is just Youkai. After all, we know Youkai is working for Mosseint. In this way, he has plausible deniability if the scheme fails and Serpico takes the blame. Plus even if Serpico is defeated, how much damage will still be done to Roscaelifer? Mosseint could still capitalize on that so it's a win-win for him. And that's why we need the B Team to stop that from happening though I think it's all been pushed to the Epilogue now.
If Icarus is no longer Epaphus though, what does that mean for Cissia? When they revealed both members of Icarus, their names actually linked very well with Cissia. Serpico is named after Sarapis who is related to Osiris the Egyptian god of the underworld. Truvia or actually Trivia is an epithet of Artemis in her capacity as a guide for souls. Cissia is then Sisyphus who relates to my theory about Epaphus as he attempted to defy death only to end up fruitlessly pushing a rock up a cliff forever.
Well, if they are just a red herring, it's not like they're the only people Helios ever experimented on. I've theorized that Sunbringer and Arche made several previous attempts at cloning Sunbringer in order to create the perfect Herrscher for her that could take control of this game's universe and subdue the Creator for good. None of those clones ever met expectations. We also already know that Seed was part of Helios as well. It is possible that while Icarus was Phaethon's direct rival, the "Epaphus" faction were earlier experiments that were scrapped in favor of Phaethon and Icarus. If my theory is right, we've seen what Arche and Sunbringer do to the clones that were deemed failures. Yixuan and her sister Yijiang were left as orphans to wander the street. Anby's sisters were given to shady military groups. Epaphus might have watched from the shadows how powerful Phaethon became and how they were still seen as the most successful trial. They had loathed them. Unlike with Icarus, maybe Phaethon didn't even know they had two people out there who'd hated them so much. Just like Seed, these two will just appear one day and reveal their mutual history. We may even need them to understand how to trigger branched time. They might also introduce themselves as passive aggressive allies who belittle Phaethon even though they're still helping.
The v3.2 livestream is happening tomorrow. Let's see what might be revealed about our "Epaphus" rivals:
- Phaethon and Icarus are team names given to the four by Helios Academy. They didn't choose to name themselves this.
- As a result, while Serpico and Truvia's backstory fits with my theory about the "Epaphus Faction" that rivaled Phaethon, it isn't them.
- Instead, Icarus is Lead Scepter's pawn in the TOPS side of Season 3's plot.
- It may have been his original intention for Serpico or Truvia to gain the Etheric Other and become the Creator's Enchainer vessel who TOPS means to control with the Void Hunter Weapons.
- When that failed, the project was scrapped and Truvia was made into a simple puppet under Mosseint's control.
- Serpico then may either resent this decision and is lashing out on his own or was goaded to doing so as a way for Mosseint to get what he wants from Roscaelifer without getting his hands dirty. (Either way, he's being manipulated by Mosseint.)
- Serpico's Bangboo virus may just be Youkai.
- If Icarus isn't Epaphus, this faction might just be like Seed, other kids who were experimented on before Phaethon and Icarus were chosen as the successful teams.
There's something I want to add.
Right now my prediction for Season 4 is that Vike is actually still alive because her turning into an Enchainer and then being defeated (killed in this case) is reminiscent of HI3's Mei turning into the Herrscher of Thunder only to be defeated and then having the Herrscher personality suppressed inside of her for most of the early game. She would then fully embrace her Herrscher side in order to save Kiana. I theorized that this will happen with Vike.
However there are people in the community who are tired of the Mei expies for some reason. So let's try a version with Vike really being dead. In the Roscaelifer preview video, we're shown a shot of Serpico meeting with Vike but many people are claiming this girl with Vike's purple hair is actually the black haired Truvia. We can work with this. In her first appearance back in v3.0, kid Truvia was shown with blue hair. If she can go from blue to black hair between patches, why can't she go from black to purple too? Plus Mei has black hair. If the Zenless devs noticed the anti-Mei expy crowd, maybe they could have Truvia become Vike's successor. This would bring her story full circle and even fulfill some form of being a Mei expy anyway without actually being a Mei expy. Mei was a weak willed person at the start, a daughter under the weight of the Raiden legacy. The family's ME Corp then came under fire by Cocolia who seized control of it in a hostile takeover. That could easily be the fate of High Ambitions Corp after we defeat Mosseint. Just like Mei, Truvia might have to go from weak girl under the thumb of Mosseint into her own person. Once she has her resolve, Vike's old Void Hunter Weapon might choose her as its new wielder and instead of being the true Enchainer like Phaethon the way Mosseint had once intended, Truvia would end up being a potential Enchainer as a Void Hunter. And because it would take time for Truvia to come to terms with all of this, she'd release for the climax of Season 4.
Topic originally created on August 27th, 2026.